Gallon Environment Letter – the daily edition – a policy letter from the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment

Obama campaign launches Environmentalists for Obama website

green.barackobama.com is an official part of the Obama re-election campaign. On the website the President is inviting environmentalists to organize and speak out in support of his environmental accomplishments.

There are two ways this may be important to Canada.

First, the Harper government is currently launching a tirade against environmentalists, especially including American environmentalists who want to have a say on Canadian issues that may have cross-border implications. President Obama is going to want to keep a very big distance between himself and that particular Harper initiative.

Second, President Obama is claiming that he has “taken unprecedented action to build the foundation for a clean energy economy, tackle the issue of climate change, and protect our environment.” A list of his claimed accomplishments can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/our-environment . Many of his claimed accomplishments have not yet been mirrored in Canada. To maintain his claimed environmental record, President Obama is likely to want to be seen associating primarily with leaders who have a similar environmental objective. If the Prime Minister of Canada wishes to remain on the good side of President Obama he may well feel pressure as this year unfolds to mimic some of the President’s environmental progress. After all, the relationship will hardly be furthered if our Prime Minister states that Obama’s environmental record is so much greenwash.

If you visit green.barackobama.com , or any other US campaign site, please remember that only US citizens and organizations are allowed to donate to US election campaigns.